Book III OF SVPHILIS 273

for this disease; but of this I will speak later.'4ö  In addition,
the patient must take internally one of those remedies that op—
pose contagion, for example, theriae or mithridatum. For you
may perhaps by these means so weaken and destroy the germs
that the disease will make no farther progress.

But when it is no longer in the initial stage, and you are sure
that it is deeply rooted, and the patient is already suffering
pains, or has pustules or other such symptoms, then you ought
to direct your efforts not only against the germs but the sub—
stance also, which is in part in course of infection or imperilled,
in part already corrupted. However you must never disregard
the germs; they must always be destroyed, if possible, or broken
down or expelled. 'The corrupted substance must be expelled,
that which is in course of infection must be restored, or, if there
be a great amount of it, it must be expelled. Since this sub—
stance is thick and foul and very viscous, it cannot be restored
to normal or expelled, unless it is made more volatile, and cleans—
ed ; in fact it must be so liquefied that all foulness can be cleans—
ed away and either be dried up or pass away in sweat. But
since all these, I mean the germs and the substance, owing to
their viscosity, are thoroughly intermingled, and at the same
time there are present, besides, pustules, pains, and often gum—
mata, you must consider whether you can resort to any one
method or any one remedy which will meet all these demands
and serve your purpose in every way, or whether you need
several remedies, and which you should use. For some doctors
attempt to attain all these ends by means of purgations solely;
some use only ointments, others only fumigations; some employ
remedies that convert the substance into sweat, others remedies
that oppose the contagion; on the other hand, some doctors
use now one method, now another, to attain these various ends;
I must therefore consider carefully all these methods of treat—
ment.

I will begin with evacuation, since some doctors have claimed
that this alone is sufficient for the whole treatment. Certainly
I have myself observed cases in which this method had good
results, but I have also known cases in which it proved insuf—
ficient.  However, we may take it for granted that in all diseases,
and above all in this, the substance that must presently be ex—
pelled should first be digested and prepared.'4 But in dealing
with this malady, the remedies that are suitable for the sub—